The present invention relates to sleep-promoting and/or pacification apparatus, and particularly to apparatus useful for promotion sleep and/or pacifying adults or infants.
A significant segment of the population suffers from insomnia, i.e., the chronic inability to fall asleep, usually due to some form of psychological restlessness in the individual. Restlessness in an infant is usually manifested by the infant crying, particularly before the infant falls asleep. When this occurs, the infant's mother, intuitively, may hold the infant in her arms against her body, which usually pacifies the infant. This phenomenon, which has been extensively investigated by pediatricians and scientists, is generally attributed to the fact that the infant, while in the mother's womb, is in a living, active environment involving movement and activity produced by the beating heart of the mother; and upon emerging to the external world, the new environment creates a feeling of uneasiness and insecurity. When the mother holds the infant against her body, usually intuitively on the left side, the womb environment is partially restored, decreasing this feeling of uneasiness and insecurity and thereby promoting sleep.
With respect to sleeplessness on the part of adults, it has been found that periodic monotonous sounds, such as produced by various home appliances as ventilators, air conditioners, and the like, frequently are effective in promoting sleep.
An object of the present invention is to provide apparatus particularly useful for promoting sleep and/or pacifying both infants and adults.